To Dye Brown
Put into your dye pot about two handfuls of walnut rinds, or as much as
it will hold nicely to boil; simmer this slowly over the fire for three
or four hours, and add a little water to it as it boils away. When all
the juice of the dye is taken out of the rinds, strain the liquor off,
put it into the basin, and throw away the rinds; you take two handfuls
more and boil them in the same way, and add the stuff together in the
pot; the rinds being thrown away, put your hackles, &c., previously
washed, into the dye, and simmer them on the fire for four or five
hours, till you have the proper colour struck on the hackles. The alum
and tartar need not be added to this dye.
Take out the feathers and wash them well; the walnut roots cut small,
dye in the same way.